Hurling

In Canada, hurling means throwing up. It took some time for me to get used to the fact that here in Ireland, one of their national sports is called hurling. According to wikipedia:

Hurling (Irish: Iománaíocht / Iomáint) is an outdoor team sport of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. The game, played primarily in Ireland, has prehistoric origins and is thought to be the world's fastest field team sport in terms of game play. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, number of players, and much terminology. There is a similar game for women called camogie (camógaíocht).

The object of the game is for players to use a wooden stick called a hurley (in Irish a camán, pronounced [ˈkamɑːn] or [kəˈmɑːn]) to hit a small ball called a sliotar (pronounced [ˈʃlɪtəɹ]) between the opponents' goalposts either over the crossbar for one point, or under the crossbar into a net guarded by a goalkeeper for one goal, which is equivalent to three points.

Personally, I've never really enjoying watching sports. When our (non-Irish) friend suggested that we attend a hurling match, I only agreed out of curiosity and a sense of cultural duty. The match was on a Sunday afternoon in Cork. Cork played Tipperary, and the stadium was packed. Apparently there were over 36,000 people in attendance. Interestingly, there were no TV screens or electronic music-making devices. In fact, the audience cheered a lot, but they had relatively few Canadian & American-style sports chants.

The match was 70 minutes long with a break at the halfway point, and I surprised myself by not being bored! I actually had a great time. The game was interesting, and watching the characters in the audience was really the highlight for me.

Oh, and Cork won. Up Corcaigh!